INTRODUCTION PHILIP JOHNSON BORN IN 1906, IN CLEVELAND, OHIO .

AFTER GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL HE ATTENDED HARVARD COLLEGE,

WHERE HE STUDIED CLASSICS.

AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-SIX HE BECAME THE DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM OF

MODERN ART’S NEW ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT.

HE WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE INFLUENTIAL DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND

DESIGN AT MOMA. AS CO-AUTHOR (WITH HENRY-RUSSELL HITCHCOCK JR.) OF THE

MOMA EXHIBITION CATALOG "THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE: ARCHITECTURE SINCE

1922" (1932), JOHNSON IS CREDITED WITH INTRODUCING EUROPEAN MODERNISM TO

AMERICA.

JOHNSON INTERRUPTED HIS EDUCATION WITH SEVERAL EXTENDED TRIPS TO

EUROPE.

THESE TRIPS BECAME THE PIVOTAL MOMENT OF HIS EDUCATION; HE VISITED

CHARTRES, THE PARTHENON, AND MANY OTHER ANCIENT MONUMENTS, WHICH

AROUSE GREAT INTERST IN HIM TOWARDS ARCHITECTURE.

BEFORE DESIGNING HIS FIRST BUILDING AT THE AGE OF 36, JOHNSON HAD BEEN

CLIENT, CRITIC, AUTHOR, HISTORIAN, MUSEUM DIRECTOR, BUT NOT AN ARCHITECT. 

IN 1941 PHILIP JOHNSON RETURNED TO HARVARD AS A STUDENT UNDER GROPIUS

AND MARCEL BREUR.

HIS FIRST PRACTICAL ARCHITECTURAL WORK IN 1949,WAS A RESIDENCE FOR

HIMSELF IN NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT FOR HIS MASTER DEGREE THESIS, THE NOW

FAMOUS GLASS HOUSE. HE WIDENED HIS CONNECTIONS WITH MODERN ARCHITECTS IN EUROPE AND

ORGANISED EXHIBITIONS OF MODERN ARCHITECTS.HE MADE A NUMBER OF OTHER HOUSES IN A SIMILAR VANE AND THROUGHOUT THE

1950S DESIGNED MANY WELL-KNOWN WORKS INCLUDING THE SEAGRAM BUILDING IN

NEW YORK CITY, DONE IN COLLABORATION WITH MIES VAN DER ROHE.FROM 1967 TO 1989 JOHNSON COLLABORATED WITH JOHN BURGEE, HIS MOST

PRODUCTIVE PERIOD CERTAINLY BY THE MEASURE OF SCALE -- HE BECAME KNOWN

AT THIS TIME AS BUILDER OF ICONIC OFFICE TOWERS.SINCE 1989, JOHNSON, SEMI-RETIRED, DEVOTED HIS TIME MAINLY TO PROJECTS OF

HIS OWN, BUT STILL WAS A CONSULTANT TO JOHN BURGEE ARCHITECTS. JOHNSON DIED IN JANUARY 2005

PHILOSPHY

ACCORDING TO PHILIP JOHNSON ‘CRUTCHES’ BY WHICH ARCHITECTS EVADE THEIR

REAL RESPONSIBILITIES ARE-

HISTORY – I.E. JUSTIFYING ELEMENTS WHICH ARE EARLIER USED.

UTILITY- I.E. IF UTILITY OF A BUILDING OVERCOMES ARTISTIC INVENTIONS ,THEN IT IS

MERELY AN ASSEMBLAGE OF USEFUL PARTS.

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

THOUGH HE BEGAN IN THE STARK STYLE OF MIES VAN DER ROHE’S WORK, BY THE

1960S HE HAD TURNED TO A MORE INDIVIDUAL STYLE THAT INCORPORATED

HISTORICAL ELEMENTS.

HIS GREATEST INFLUENCE AS AN ARCHITECT WAS HIS USE OF GLASS.

JOHNSON WAS AMONG THE FIRST TO EXPERIMENT WITH ALL-GLASS FACADES, AND BY

THE 1980S SUCH BUILDINGS HAD BECOME COMMONPLACE THE WORLD OVER.

HE EVENTUALLY REJECTED MUCH OF THE METALLIC APPEARANCE OF EARLIER

INTERNATIONAL STYLE BUILDINGS, AND BEGAN DESIGNING SPECTACULAR,

CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURES UNIFORMLY SHEATHED IN GLASS.

HE BELIEVES IN "ARCHITECTURE IS BASICALLY THE DESIGN OF INTERIORS, THE ART

OF ORGANIZING INTERIOR SPACE."

WITH THE LATER WORK OF THE 1970S AND 1980S, JOHNSON BEGAN TO MANIPULATE

BOTH TEXTURE AND COLOR ON THE EXTERIOR OF HIS LARGER BUILDINGS.

WORKS

GLASS HOUSE ,NEW CANAAN(1949) ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL YET LEAST FUNCTIONAL HOUSES TRANSPARENT OPEN-PLAN FRAME STRUCTURE WHICH WAS HIS OWN RESIDENCE. IS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY MIES' FARNSWORTH HOUSE BATH IN BRICK CYLINDER. INCLUDES OUTDOOR SCULPTURE AND A SEPARATE BLANK-WALLED BRICK GUEST

HOUSE SPATIAL DIVISIONS IN THE GLASS BUILDING ARE ACHIEVED BY A BRICK CYLINDER

CONTAINING A BATHROOM, AND BY LOW WALNUT CABINETS—ONE OF THEM

CONTAINING KITCHEN EQUIPMENT. IT WAS A BUILDING REALLY EXPRESSING MANY CONCERNS OF CLASSIC DESIGN, FROM

THE ELEVATED PLACEMENT OF AN OBJECT IN A SPACE, TO ITS SERENE PROPORTION,

GENERAL OVERALL SYMMETRY, AND COMBINING OF A BALANCE OF ELEMENTS

Simple rectangular plan 56’-0” x 32’-0”

Glass walls

Steel frame structure

Wooden block flooring

Chairs designed by

Mies van der rohe

ELLYPTICAL ENTRANCE PORCH LINKED TO RECTANGULAR BODY OF THE MAIN

BUILDING. COLOURED SLIT WINDOWS ON CONCRETE-BLOCK WALLS OF MAIN BUILDING,GIVE

LIGHTNESS CURVED FALSE CEILING DOMED ENTRANCE.

KNESES TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE,PORT CHESTER, NY

Auditorium

Toilets

Vaulted false work

Rectangular main hall

Elliptical entrance porch

Section through elliptical Detail of vaulted falsework

false ceiling

porch and rectangular mainhall

Main cubical hall

Slit windows

Walls made up of

Concrete blocks

Dome with canopy

At top

Elliptical main

entrance

Interiors showing coloured

Glass set in wall slits.

FOUR SEASON RESTAURANT, SEAGRAM BUILDING, N.Y. (1959)

LOCATED ON FIRST FLOOR OF SEAGRAM BUILDING THE RESTAURANT IS COMPRISED OF TWO PUBLIC DINING ROOMS THAT SET A NEW

AMERICAN STYLE OF RESTAURANT TO MATCH EXTERIOR BRONZE CLADDING, INTERIOR COLUMNS ARE FACED IN

BRONZE WALLS ARE SURFACED IN A THICK FRENCH WALNUT VENEER CURTAINS FORMED FROM NO. OF THIN CHAINS OF ANODIZED ALUMINIUM. LARGE RECTANGULAR POOL IS LINED WITH MARBLE HIGH CEILINGS AND HARDWOOD SURFACES IN THE POOL ROOM, THE WATER IN THE POOL BABBLES SOOTHINGLY AND THROWS

OFF PACIFYING WHITE NOISE THAT ABSORBS OTHER SOUNDS.

Curtains made from chains

Of anodized aluminium

Thin structural columns

Acting as mullions

Part of interior showing

Pool

Chairs designed by

Mies van der rohe

Interior view showing

suspended sculpture

Chain curtains

PUERTA DE EUROPA

It is a major office and residential project which stands astride

the paseo da castellana , Madrid’s most important boulevard, on

the north side of the plaza de castilla. This bold move creates a portal which being at the northern end

of business district , becomes the gateway to Europe. The buildings have plan dimensions of 35 mts. X 36 mts.

RESIDENCES

GROUND

FLOOR

PLAN

TWIN OFFICE

BLOCKS

Building slope is

14.3 degrees

Height above plaza is

113.56 mts.

Height above base-

-ment 123 .76 mts.

Floor to floor height is

3.97 mts.

Symmetry is main governing principle. Verticality dominates . Central axis runs in plan .